Image Courtesy of Adair Freeman Rutledge
The Royals
Photographs by Adair Freeman Rutledge
August 15-October 17
The Do Good Fund Gallery
The Royals explores beauty standards, matriarchal lineages, and identity through the lens of the Queens and Princesses of small-town festivals.
Each year communities across America honor their local heritage or economy with a festival – from Opp, Alabama’s “Rattlesnake Rodeo,” to Marysville, Washington’s “Strawberry Festival,” to the “Pendleton Roundup” in Eastern Oregon. These events often culminate in a Grand Parade through main street, led by the festival Queen and her Royal Court. Many of these towns are celebrating their 75th, 85th, or 100th festival anniversaries. Prior to the Covid 19 Pandemic, they had only been interrupted once – by World War II.
The selection process and Royal duties range from court to court. Some still have an evening gown component and swimsuit competition while others emphasize scholarship and public speaking skills. Often “The Crown” (or cowboy hat, or beaded garment) is passed down through generations of women who wear it as proud ambassadors for their town. These photographs explore how traditional beauty standards are created or reinforced through costuming, how the symbols women are adorned with give them power or “beauty,” and question what it means to be (or need) a female princess figurehead in America today.
Adair Freeman Rutledge is a photographic artist based in Seattle, WA. Originally from Alabama, her photography work questions enduring traditions and underscores tensions between cultural practices and modern realities. Through a curious and feminist lens, she examines how American customs influence expectations for our youth, shape gender roles, and impact racial stereotypes.
Adair’s photography has been commissioned by brands like Amazon, John Deere, Brooks Running, and Lands' End, among others. Her fine art work has been featured on NPR, Fraction Magazine and Lenscratch, and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Seattle Art Museum's 2019 Betty Bowen Award (finalist), CENTER Santa Fe's Editor's Choice Award and most recently Photo Lucida's Critical Mass Top 50. She has exhibited her work at institutions including the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA, the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Bainbridge, WA, and Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR. She also teaches at the Photographic Center Northwest and Cornish College of the Arts.
Adair is also a mother of two baby cheetahs whom she co-parents with her husband.